Help to build my Wizard illusionist

[Timy]

Hi everyone, I will start with some friends a pathfinder campaign.

First of all, I would say some specifics :

- I am no a native english speaker so please be patient (but do not hesitate to point english errors in order to help me improve :p)
- I am not an advanced player in PF nor in D&D
- For building ability score we throw 6 times 4 dices taking the best 3 dices and we assigned them in each ability in order : S D C I W C. We are just able to switch 2 ability scores. I had luck and my ability score are : 14 12 16 18 14 14
- We play about 1 or 2 games a year and not necessarilly the same campaign each time (we change GM ^^) so it means we advance very slowly
- We are level 2

So basically, I "have" to build a wizard to use my lucky 18 Int and 16 Con and I wanted to switch Dex and Str.

Now my questions :

I have thought quite a lot about this character and I am quite set with an illusionist wizard. For the fluff, I imagine him/her as a schemer who use his/her mastery of the illusion to scam gullible people and to swin in high society.

What I am not set is several things :
Elve or Half-Elve (with +2 int) ?
Item bond or Familiar (and which one) ?
What spell known ?
What spell to prepare in generic circunstance ?
What are my most usefull skills ?

thanks in advance...

[Psyren]

1) You should use your one switch on S -> D to apply the 14 to D and the 12 to S.

2) Either race will work well, which would you rather be?

3) I personally prefer the item bond because you can enhance it cheaply, but either option works.

4) "What spells should I prepare?" is a very complicated question. I know you said your English is not strong, but reading a wizard (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/treatmonks-lab/test) handbook (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/extras/community-creations/professor-qs-lab) is going to be your best answer to that if you can get through it.

[Timy]

It seems I have poblems opening these pages (there seems to be issues with me not having Facebook account ???)

[Psyren]

Those are both Google Docs pages - I don't know what the difficulty might be with you accessing them from your country.

[Red Fel]

Are you married to the idea of Elf or Half-Elf? Because if you're not, you might consider a Gnome (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/core-races/gnome) instead, for several reasons.

First off, the Gnome Magic racial trait gives you +1 to your illusion spell DCs. Additionally, since you have more than 11 Charisma, it also gives you free SLAs, which is a nice bonus.

Second, there's the Effortless Trickery (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/effortless-trickery) feat. For an illusionist, this is potentially incredible. It allows you to maintain concentration on an illusion spell as a swift action, which means you're free to act during your turn.

Third, there's the Trickster (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/magic-traits/trickster-gnome-magic) trait, which increases your caster level by +1 for purposes of illusion spells.

Yes, the downside is that you don't get a +2 Intelligence bonus. But you do get a Constitution bonus, which is always helpful, and your Charisma bonus will help you trick gullible people and make your way in high society.

[Timy]

Those are pretty solid...

But it seems to me that it is not core (I forgot to mention, we don't have any books except core).

But I will really consider it since the SLAs and the additional bonus to DD are nice ^^ And additionaly, I like the small size for a wizard...

But I think I can forget effortless trickery (sigh...) and trickster.

Thanks for the input...

[Timy]

After further consideration, it came to me that the +1 DD and 1 SLA is just a compensation for loosing 2 int. So basically, it is not really game breacker...

I will choose according to fluff...

[SVentura77]

At the very least, the gnome and gnomish racial bonuses are indeed core. They're on, roughly, page 23 of the player's handbook.

Seeing as how you can gain +2 int with just a bit of cash, the +1 DC to Illusion spells (along with other gnomish abilities) might be worth it. *shrug*

[Callin]

You should be able to access the majority of Pathfinder for free online here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/)

[Timy]

At the very least, the gnome and gnomish racial bonuses are indeed core. They're on, roughly, page 23 of the player's handbook.

Seeing as how you can gain +2 int with just a bit of cash, the +1 DC to Illusion spells (along with other gnomish abilities) might be worth it. *shrug*

Yes of course...

But I can still play an elve and buy a +2 Int item which again would be worth +1 DC and +1 spell/day (which I choose).

As for core and no core, I know there is a lot of material on the internet but we are french and our french pathfinder wiki doesn't have the "Pathfinder Companion: Gnomes of Golarion" in it and the GM allready stated that everything on the french wiki will not necessarily be legit... I doubt english only material will be.

Speacking of what, the character I imagine is "exactly" the Veiled Illusionist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/s-z/veiled-illusionist) as I understand it but I don't understand some of the things which are written there.

For example :


At 1st level, a veiled illusionist may select an illusion spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list of a level she can cast and add it to her class spell list at the same level. If the spell is already on her spell list, she adds it to her spellbook, familiar, or list of spells known

For a wizard it means freely adding a new illusion spell to his spellbook ?


At 4th level, a veiled illusionist can spend 1 point from her veil pool as an immediate action to reroll a caster level check made to bypass spell resistance. She must use this ability before the results of the first roll are revealed, and must accept the second roll, even if it's worse.

This seems weird to me : what I understand is that you roll a second time without knowing the first roll result and you HAVE to pick the second roll. Basically, it is EXACTLY like rolling only once...

[Red Fel]

For a wizard it means freely adding a new illusion spell to his spellbook ?

Yes. Since Wizard spells are already on your spell list (you're a Wizard, Harry), you directly add it to your spellbook. Note that it must be of a level you can cast.


This seems weird to me : what I understand is that you roll a second time without knowing the first roll result and you HAVE to pick the second roll. Basically, it is EXACTLY like rolling only once...

It's for when you roll badly. You know what you rolled, but not whether it was effective. For example, if you roll a 2, you don't know whether it overcame spell resistance, but there's a good chance it didn't. So before the DM announces the result (i.e. "The monster is unaffected") you can say, "I want to use my reroll!" Then you accept the results of the second roll, whether it's a 20 or a 1.

"Result" in this case refers to whether you succeeded, not what the number on the die says.

[Psyren]

"Result" in this case refers to whether you succeeded, not what the number on the die says.

Indeed, this is a very common misunderstanding I've seen players and GMs make. I wish they had explained it in the books more clearly.